The weekend before the onslaught of Soundwave and Future Music sideshows is tough for any act, but there wasn't much of a chance of it impacting this one, Sydney headline gig (21 February, 2015) from Dinosaur Jr frontman J Mascis.
Though it did take a while for the sizeable Factory Theatre main room to fill, with a couple of dozen early birds in at 8pm to catch Holy Soul frontman Trent Marden solo.
The Sydney music icon worked through a mixed set that included new Holy Soul tunes the band are currently working on releasing, plus even some early work from Marden's childhood project Reverend Jemima. As always, his stage presence and strong, blues-rock tunes saw him work as well solo as with band, albeit a little less raucously.
There was a growing crowd on hand for popular solo star Adalita, and the former Magic Dirt frontwoman was pure charisma as she went through tracks from her 2011 self-titled solo debut and its 2013 follow-up, ‘All Day Venus’. In fact, by the time she struck her last string the room was happily packed for the headliner.
Adalita - Image © Kim RudnerWhile most fans have been on board with J Mascis since his early days fronting Dinosaur Jr, his 2012 Sydney Festival solo shows proved he has enough might to tour on his own without Lou Barlow and friends. He also has enough pedals to make this ‘acoustic’ show very loosely defined.
Taking a seat and offering few words, Mascis with guitar and pedals took a captive audience dominated by bespectacled older indie-rock males – much like the artist himself – through a cross section of his catalogue. There was a noisy, energetic take on ‘Little Furry Things’ from 1987 set ‘You're Living All Over Me’, through to the midtempo highlight ‘Every Morning’ off last year's solo record ‘Tied To A Star’.
J Mascis - Image © Kim RudnerMascis, with his ever-whitening mane of long, grey hair dangling down over his guitar, has never been one for small-talk and stage banter, and fans knew what to expect. Not surprisingly, big alternative hits like a stripped back ‘Get Me’ proved favourites, with Mascis' liberal use of effect pedals and looping providing a deceptive full-band sound at times.
He saved some gold for the end, though, with an unexpected but wonderful cover of Mazzy Star's ‘Fade Into You’, with Mascis about as far from the angelic-voiced Hope Sandoval you can get.
Then he threw in frequent cover ‘Just Like Heaven’, with The Cure hit providing just the right amount of upbeat and celebration to close out the night, proving once again that great songs will always shine through no matter how minimal the line-up and light show is.
